PIPER CITY - The Piper City Village Board has issued a burn ban until further notice.

The ban, which includes trash burning, campfires and brush piles, is prompted by the drought. Violators will be given one warning by Fred Fanning, chief of police, before a fine is levied for a second offense.

HOMER — Homer village officials decided Monday night to determine whether they can legally provide water to Sunrise Coal's proposed mine, and then to determine the capacity of the village's underground wells near Ogden.

HOMER — Tom and Sue Smith are the sixth generation to work the family farm adjacent to the Salt Fork River, a natural resource that they worry could be harmed by a large withdrawal of water for the proposed Sunrise coal mine or by discharge into the river from the site.

MAHOMET — A group of avid users of a large section of Lake of the Woods Forest Preserve in Mahomet is upset about the way dozens of trees have been removed this year without any notification or discussion.

The group hopes to voice its displeasure at a meeting of the forest preserve board at 6 p.m. today at the Izaak Walton Cabin at Lake of the Woods.

ROYAL — Construction of a 214-megawatt wind farm in Vermilion and Champaign counties is on schedule and should be completed later this year, according to an official with Invenergy LLC, a Chicago-based energy company.